Illinois

Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Abraham Lincoln was a self-taught lawyer with only one year of frontier schooling when he rode his horse into Springfield, Illinois in 1837. Lincoln was already serving in the Illinois House of Representatives, he served between 1834 and 1842, when he arrived in Springfield. He quickly became a successful lawyer in Springfield and opened a law office on 8^th Avenue near the new Illinois State Capitol. It was through his law partner, Stephen T. Logan, that he met his future wife, Mary Todd. Despite contrasting backgrounds, Mary was well educated and from a prominent Kentucky family, the two married on November 4, 1842.

By May 1844, Abraham and Mary Lincoln needed more living space for their growing family which now included son, Robert Todd. They purchased a Greek Revival-style home on the corner of Eighth and Jackson streets in Springfield only a few blocks away from Lincoln’s law office. The home was purchased for $1,500 from Reverend Charles Dresser who had married the couple in 1842. The family lived there for the next 17 years and it was the only home Lincoln ever owned.

While living in this house Lincoln enjoyed great success as a lawyer and was considered one of the state’s best courtroom attorneys. He often traveled with the circuit court throughout Illinois which would take him away from Springfield for up to three months at a time. By 1846, the Lincolns had welcomed a second son, Edward “Eddie” Baker, to the family and they added a downstairs bedroom to the house. Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives that same year, however Mary and the children remained in Springfield during Lincoln’s two-year term. Tragedy struck the family in 1850 when young Eddie died five weeks shy of his fourth birthday. His funeral was held in the front parlor of the Lincoln home. That same year, a third son named William “Willie” Wallace was born. The couple’s fourth son, Thomas or Tad, was born in the house in 1853.

In 1856, the house underwent dramatic improvements with an expansion of the second floor. The house also became the center of Lincoln’s growing political career as he unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 1858. However, in his defeat to Stephen Douglas, Lincoln had emerged as a national political leader of a new Republican Party which set the stage for his election as the 16^th president in 1860. It was in this home that Lincoln shared the news with Mary that he had been elected to the highest office. Only a simple nameplate on the front door reading “A. Lincoln” told visitors that they had arrived at the home of the future president.

President-elect Lincoln left his Springfield home for the final time on February 11, 1861. He would not return home until May 4, 1865 when his funeral procession passed in front of his home on its way to Oak Ridge Cemetery. Following Lincoln’s assassination, thousands of grieving citizens descended on Springfield and the home became a focus of national mourning. Mrs. Lincoln never lived in the home again and eventually Lincoln’s eldest son, Robert, became the sole owner of the family home and upheld it as a rental property. In 1887 he donated the home to the people of Illinois, who preserved it as a memorial to the martyred president for 85 years. The State of Illinois donated the home to the National Park Service in 1972 and today the Lincoln home as well as four blocks of this historic neighborhood are the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site

Following his death on April 15, 1865, President Lincoln’s body was placed aboard a funeral train called “The Lincoln Special” with his portrait fastened to the front of the locomotive. The train departed Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1865 and retraced the route Lincoln had taken on his way to the nation’s capital from his home in Springfield, Illinois. Approximately 300 people accompanied Lincoln’s body on the 1,654-mile journey, including his eldest son, Robert. The train also carried the coffin containing the body of Lincoln’s son Willie, who had died in 1862 at the age of 11 from typhoid fever. He had been disinterred so that he could be buried alongside his father in Springfield.

Lincoln’s funeral train traveled through more than 400 cities and towns in 7 states with scheduled stops published in newspapers. There were 13 major stops in larger cities where Lincoln’s body was removed from the train for a funeral procession and public viewing. In cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Columbus, tens of thousands of mourners flocked to pay tribute to the slain president. Even more moving were the thousands of people who lined the railroad tracks to hold vigil as President Lincoln’s remains passed by them.

Finally, on May 3, 1865 Lincoln’s body returned to Springfield. Lincoln laid in state within the chambers of the Illinois House of Representatives, the same chamber he had served, for 24 hours allowing his friends and residents of Springfield to pay their final respects. On May 4, 1865, a large funeral procession departed the Capitol building on its way to Oak Ridge Cemetery passing by the Lincoln residence on Eighth Avenue. Following an hour-long eulogy, the coffins of Lincoln and Willie were placed inside a limestone receiving vault and the iron gates were locked shut. Federal troops were posted outside the vault to provide around the clock guard of the slain president. In December 1865, Lincoln’s body was moved from the receiving vault to a private vault not far from the proposed location of his memorial.

Two days after President Lincoln was assassinated, a group of Springfield citizens formed the National Lincoln Monument Association and spearheaded a drive for funds to construct a memorial or tomb for their beloved president. Construction of the tomb began in 1868 and within three years enough was completed that the bodies of Lincoln and his three youngest sons (Eddie, Willie, and Tad) could be placed in crypts within the unfinished structure. The memorial was finally completed in 1874 and Lincoln’s remains were interred in a marble sarcophagus in the center of the chamber known as the burial room. Following a botched robbery attempt to seal Lincoln’s body and hold it for ransom in 1876, the National Lincoln Monument Association hid Lincoln’s body in an undisclosed location of the memorial. When Mrs. Lincoln died in 1882, her remains were placed alongside her fallen husband’s and her three children.

In 1895, the State of Illinois acquired the memorial which had fallen into disrepair. During a two-year restoration program, all five of the caskets were moved to a nearby subterranean vault. Following the completion of the work, State officials returned Lincoln to the original marble sarcophagus, but immediately Robert Lincoln objected and had his father’s remains moved to a concrete vault 10 feet below the burial room where it remains today. During the 1930s, the State reconstructed the interior of the memorial to an Art Deco style that remains today.

The tomb is located on a 12.5-acre plot and is constructed of granite from Biddeford, Maine. A 117-foot-high obelisk rises above the memorial with a statue of Lincoln standing in front of it. There are four bronze statues that adorn the corners of the memorial that represent the infantry, navy, artillery, and cavalry of the Civil War. In front of the entrance to the tomb is a bronze head of Lincoln by the famed sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who also carved Mount Rushmore. If you look closely, you can see that Lincoln’s nose is well polished due to visitors rubbing it for good luck.

Marble lined corridors lead from the entry rotunda to the burial room which is located at the rear of the memorial. Located in niches along the corridor walls are eight statues by prominent sculptors depicting various phases of Lincoln’s life. Four bronze tablets on the walls are engraved with famous speeches from Lincoln including the Gettysburg Address. The burial room features black and white marble walls with a ceiling of gold leaf. In the center of the room is a 7-ton red marble sarcophagus inscribed with Lincoln’s name and years he lived. Nine flags are arranged in a semicircle around the room. Seven flags are states of Lincoln’s ancestors while the last two are the United States and presidential flags. Inscribed above the room is “Now he belongs to the ages” which was reportedly spoken by Edwin Stanton at the time of Lincoln’s death. Along the south wall of the burial room are four crypts containing the remains of Mrs. Lincoln and three of her four sons: Eddie, Willie, and Tad. The eldest son, Robert Lincoln, died in 1926 and he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum

Although Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky and spent most of his youth in Indiana, it was Springfield, Illinois that Lincoln considered to be his hometown. It was here in Springfield that he found success as an attorney, experienced political victories, and raised his family. In preparation for the bicentennial of his birth in 2009, the State of Illinois completed the $115 million Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum complex in downtown Springfield. The library and museum project received funding from a variety of sources, including $50 million from the Federal Government. Construction was completed in phases.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library opened in October 2004. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency transferred the holdings of the 118-year-old Illinois State Historical Library to the new facility. The 3-story, 98,000 square foot library contains 33,000 square feet of storage space for the institution’s 12 million items, including books, letters, manuscripts, maps, broadsides, photographs, and other documents. The library also includes comfortable reading rooms, classrooms, conservation labs, and a large multi-purpose room for broadcasting or hosting distance learning sessions. The library is the premier research facility for Lincoln scholars from around the world.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum is across the street from the library and it is a wonderful tribute to the life of the 16^th president. Its 46,000 square feet of permanent exhibit space presents the story of Lincoln from his boyhood in Indiana to his assassination in Washington through immersion exhibits. As you enter the museum through the rotunda, you are greeted by the Lincoln family standing in front of the White House. A young Abe Lincoln perched on a rail fence welcomes you to a full-scale replica of his childhood log cabin in Indiana. As you make your way through the cabin, you enter the exhibits covering Lincoln’s pre-presidential years. In this part of the museum, you will find scenes of a slave auction, Lincoln as a store clerk, the famed Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and Lincoln in his Springfield law office. Along with immersion exhibits, there are informational panels and Lincoln artifacts on display.

Exhibits for the Lincoln presidential years are entered through the White House where you see historical figures such as Frederick Douglas and General George McClellen on the porch. Inside the entrance is a collection of Civil War era gowns worn by prominent women during the Lincoln White House years, including Mary Todd Lincoln. This side of the museum also has immersion exhibits such as Willie’s death bed, Lincoln discussing Emancipation Proclamation with Cabinet, and Ford’s Theater. There are numerous exhibits dedicated to the Civil War including a video presentation titled “The Civil War in Four Minutes” and a room full of photos titled “The War Gallery”. I really enjoyed the touchscreens that allow you to explore the history behind each photo. Also on display are some castings of Lincoln’s face and hands, not exactly a death mask, but made a few months before his death. Guests end their tour of the Lincoln presidential years by filing past Lincoln’s coffin lying in state in the Illinois House of Representatives chamber just as mourners did in May 1865.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

The first settlements at Cahokia were around 700 AD by Late Woodland Indians. Living in small villages along Cahokia Creek, these early people hunted, gathered plants, and cultivated crops. Beginning around 1,000 AD, the Mississippian culture began to evolve with highly structured communities and complex social and political systems. These people were successful farmers and grew crops like corn, squash, and seed-bearing plants that they augmented with their hunting allowing them to support larger populations in more permanent communities.

After 1,050 AD, Cahokia became a regional center surrounded by farms, villages, and satellite towns with at least 120 mounds. The community peaked between 1,050-2,000 AD sprawling over six square miles with a population that topped 20,000 people; the largest community north of Mexico. “Greater Cahokia” included major mound complexes in East St. Louis, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri.

Cahokia was organized around Monks Mound which contains an estimate 22 million cubic feet of earth. The mound sits on a base covering over 14 acres and it rises to a height of 100 feet making it is the largest prehistoric earthen mound in the Americas. A massive building once stood on the summit where the principal chief would live, conduct ceremonies in the temple, and govern. The name, Monks Mound, comes from the French Trappist monks who lived on the mound from 1809-1813. Surrounding Monks Mound were a 40-acre Grand Plaza and several smaller plazas where public gatherings and ceremonies took place. Around these were clusters of mounds and organized neighborhoods for single-family dwellings with agricultural fields stretching for miles.

The mounds were made of earth dug from “borrow pits” with stone and wood tools, and transported in baskets on people’s backs. It is estimated that over 50 million cubic feet of earth was moved for mound construction alone. Most mounds show several construction stages. Most mounds had a rectangular summit which served as a platform to elevate ceremonial buildings and homes of the elite. Conical and ridgetop mounds were often used for burials of important people, but most Cahokians were buried in cemeteries, not mounds.

Today, the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois protects about 2,200 acres and 72 of the remaining 80 mounds. In 1982, UNESCO designated Cahokia Mounds a World Heritage Site for its significance in the early history of North America.